Creative Endeavours

Month: December 2013

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Took this photo in 2008 while on a Caribbean Cruise – the image reminded me of the paintings of Alex Colville – the lone figure, facing away from the photographer (artist), absence of shadow. I made a print and put it in my spare bedroom. I was just tidying up the room and stopped to think about the feelings in the image. Thought it worth sharing.

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This is the completed Fossil Fern Quilt. Quilted in the hoop, with stars in the border (used a grand endless hoop which makes the job quite simple), and a pieced binding to bring out the colours of the piecing. The back is solid – no piecing this time, in the end, because the quilt turned out small enough that one WOF (width of fabric) was enough to cover the back – it’s the same blue fabric of the wide border.

Here is the quilting detail – the star border, the loops with stars the quilting element.

This will likely be a baby quilt for a boy – the blue back kind of determines that, although I wouldn’t be adverse to giving it to a baby girl, but it might not be seen as “appropriate” and therefore not used. So probably a baby boy it will be. For now, it’s hanging in a closet with the rest of the completed quilts waiting for new homes.

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This isn’t mtg bloom – it’s my neighbour Joan’s plant – a triple amaryllis in full bloom – it’s gorgeous! My house is quite a bit cooler, so mine has grown more slowly – it’ll be at least another ten days before mine will bloom.

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Back at quilt making. Haven’t done one since mid-September – I don’t have a recipient in mind but this will certainly make a good baby quilt for someone – just because the outer border and the back will be in that blue fabric with dots (look like coffee beans, actually), doesn’t mean I can’t give it to a girl child. The other side will also be pieced – haven’t decided exactly how I will do it.

This was twelve fat quarters from the Benartex Fossil Fern collection I bought during the summer. I went through it and picked out contrasting pairs trying to set up a “rainbow” of colours. There’s still a lot left from the fat quarters – the finished blocks are 6″ X 6″ – three of each of twelve colours – that was simply a 6.5″ strip from the longest dimension of the fat quarter, plus another 1″ strip. I’ll use a bit of what’s left to do something on the back of the quilt.

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The fabric is a piece of pink velvet upholstery from my sister’s old sofa – I had this bit leftover from cushions I made for her – it’s been sitting in a drawer for several years. Thought it would be perfect for an eleven year-old. So I embroidered one piece (the other side is plain), added a zipper, a lining and a strap and it’s done.

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It’s finally done! I thought this Colour Affection Shawl would never end – by the end rows had close to 600 stitches – it took at least a half hour to knit one row!

I started it on June 27 2013 (it has been nearly 6 months since I started!) and knit quite a bit until the rows started getting long, and then boredom set in! It was all I could manage to knit a row or two in an evening – many evenings I didn’t even look at it. However, I learned a lot about “lace weight” knitting (which I’ve never done before): the yarn called for a 2.5 mm needle, part way through the first colour I switched to a 3.5 mm circular needle (I started with a 32 cm circular, had to switch to an 80 cm circular) – to get the size and loose affect I was after I should have used at least a 4.5 mm needle – that would have substantially reduced the number of stitches in those long rows at the end. I also would have used three somewhat more contrasting colours – the contrast between the aqua and white is minimal so you don’t really see the three colours. One last thing I discovered is the way I increased stitches made the neck edge of the shawl too tight – I will have to explore a different way of increasing stitches that produces a looser edge, maybe actually doing a YO (yarn over) which would produce an open space would work better – I’ll have to try a swatch to see if that works.

Nevertheless, I love the striping effect of the partial rows when the dark colour is added. I wanted to add more to the bottom edge, I still had a tiny bit of yarn left (maybe enough for 4 more rows) but I just couldn’t face knitting one more row.

The cast off has to be loose – I used a size 3.5mm crochet hook and did a single crochet knitting two stitches together – the tension on the edge turned out perfectly.

Yarn: I used Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace which I bought in my local yarn shop.

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I finished the beret last evening. Here’s the pattern for it. I didn’t use the recommended Patons Classic Wool Worsted, I used Smart Double Knit (a wool yarn of approximately the same weight) using 4.5mm needles as the pattern suggested. However, using the number of stitches recommended (128 after the band) I could see I would end up with a toque rather than a beret, so although I was already into the decreases for the crown, I unravelled the hat back to the band and added a fifth repeat to the hat (170 stitches). I kept track of the repeats by using small plastic rings to indicate each repeat (I used a larger one to mark the beginning of the “row”).

I used the two-hand technique to knit the beret (one colour in my right hand, the other in my left), making sure to cross the yarns every three stitches or so (when the pattern called for 4 or more stitches in one colour). I knit the body of the hat on a short circular needle, did the decreases for the crown using double pointed needles as the round became smaller and smaller in diameter.